Shloka 18
Chapter 40: Śiva in Kirāta Disguise Tests Arjuna
Mūka-vadha and the Contest
अवशध्यो नाम नास्त्यत्र त्रैलोक्ये सचराचरे । मनसा चक्षुषा वाचा धनुषा च निपातयेत्,चराचर प्राणियोंसहित समस्त त्रिलोकीमें कोई ऐसा पुरुष नहीं है जो इस अस्त्रद्वारा मारा न जा सके। इसका प्रयोग करनेवाला पुरुष अपने मानसिक संकल्पसे, दृष्टिसे, वाणीसे तथा धनुष-बाणद्वारा भी शत्रुओंको नष्ट कर सकता है
avaśadhyo nāma nāsty atra trailokye sacarācare | manasā cakṣuṣā vācā dhanuṣā ca nipātayet ||
Bhava said: “In this entire threefold world, with all that moves and all that is unmoving, there exists no being who cannot be slain by this weapon. The one who employs it can bring down enemies by mere mental resolve, by a glance, by a spoken utterance, and also by bow and arrow.”
भव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the terrifying reach of divinely empowered weaponry: when sanctioned, it can operate through intention, sight, speech, or conventional arms. Ethically, it implies that such power demands restraint and dharmic discernment, since nothing in the cosmos is beyond its lethal scope.
Bhava (Śiva) is describing the potency of a particular astra, declaring that no being in the three worlds—moving or unmoving—can resist it, and that its wielder can destroy foes through mental resolve, a glance, a spoken command, or by bow and arrow.